On Prison Saga…Sabotage!
Independent investigations carried out by Sierra Express Media reveal that the Pademba Road Maximum Prison riot is a plot of sabotage carried against the prevalence of peace and the administration of the Prison Department by elements of ill-motivated officers that are against current reforms instituted by the Director of Prisons, Mr. Moses Showers.
Findings reveal that since the inception of the current Director, many reforms have taken place with some still to be materialized, a situation which some dubious officers are in staunch opposition to and as such would resort to doing anything that could stall such progress.
On the recent riotous development, SEM has got to learn that it came about when the Director decided to conduct a routine search on tip up that senior prison officers are conniving with prisoners to smuggle contraband into the prison precinct such as marijuana, knives, cash money, mobile phones and other electronic materials that might obviously lead to a security breach at the country’s maximum detention centre. Having the knowledge that the same officers that are supposed to prevent such happening are the ones pioneering it, the Director according to our information decided to set up an independent search team that was to team up with officers at the Pademba Central Prison to conduct the said thorough search.
According investigations conducted by the officers in charge of the Central Detention Prison Sampha Billow; the officers that have indulged themselves in such activities upon hearing of the joint search mission connived with the prisoners to foil the planned programme by opening the doors to all the cell blocks at the same time so that the whole population of prisoners could descend on the search team and stall the process. An officer in charge of Howard Block at the prison, one Sergeant Bangura is said to be the one that opened up the cells and the stores as he happened to be the custodian of the keys where the implements like cutlasses, knives and farming implements are kept.
Whilst all this was going on the conniving officers stayed away, leaving the visiting team in the hands of the prisoners; causing many bodily harms on them with many being presently taking medical treatment for their wounds.
Prior searches at the Pademba Road Prison ended up with the confiscation of contraband items such as cell phones, radios, knives and cutlasses that are currently in the hands of the Director, a situation he has termed as appalling and unfortunate.
Further revelations show that prisoners have been enabled by officers to communicate whilst in detention and as such many calls are daily being placed to people in high places to make it appear the Director is not capable of manning the department. During the recent saga, an interview was conducted by local radio programme on FM 98.1 with a prisoner that was right inside the prison, an act that is grossly illegal, and a virtual breach of national security. Also the same officers that are in charge at the central prisons allowed reporters from SLBS TV to film the riot inside the walls of the prison; a criminal offence according the prisons ordinance. Â Â Â
Meanwhile the management of the Prison Department in collaboration with the Office of National Security, the Sierra Leone Police, and security from the office of the President have launched an intensive investigation into matter and have been able to establish that all that has been going on at the prison is an act of sabotage but have however determined this time around to get to the bottom of the matter.
It could be also recalled that similar compromises were being carried out in the Sierra Leone Police until recently when a very senior officer was caught in the act of renting rifles to armed robbers that caused carnage to the peace of the country. Â
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